It’s been a long haul (I guess around 18 months?), but LyraVR is finally available on Steam Early Access. Here’s the full press release:

LyraVR Beta Enables Artists to Pioneer VR Music

Steam Early Access Release Key features

• New Instruments
• Spatial Audio with detachable “VR ears”
• Audio Effects
• Audio Import/Export
• Group Note editing actions for selected nodes (copy, delete, parameter adjustment)

TAIPEI, Taiwan – LyraVR’s radical reimagining of how we create, perform and share music is now available to anyone with an interest in music, virtual reality (VR) or cutting-edge artistic expression – and an HTC Vive.

The March 22 Steam Early Access release of LyraVR, winner of the 2015 Leap Motion 3D Jam, is now available from the LyraVR Steam page for US$9.99. This HTC Vive port adds a medley of new features, including a nine-pad drum controller, an 88-key keyboard, an audio effects library and the ability to import and display audio via an innovative system for rendering audio waveforms in virtual reality.

Users will appreciate the addition of Group Node editing actions that offer greater organizational control over their work, the option to customize the tempo and speed of each musical note, not to mention a suite of loops provided by Loopmasters. The release also features spatial audio with detachable VR “ears” that users can drag around their composition to alter the audio perspective, or keep fixed for a more controlled listening experience. Expect further releases of extra downloadable content as LyraVR grows and evolves as a platform.

Built from the ground up for VR, LyraVR is a music creation platform that offers everyone from the casual user to the most ardent musician the chance to create and enjoy incredible music sequences in full room-scale VR. Users can add unprecedented sculptural elements to their composition by hand-placing musical notes in VR and activating them via HTC Vive controllers that act as drumstick-like mallets. What’s more, they can share their original creations with collaborators, friends and fans, in the process helping to shape and advance a completely new arena of musical expression.

Other features new to this release include:

• An autoplayer which provides an intuitive way to play musically related chords, arpeggios and phrases
• Node based audio special effects (low-pass filter, tempo delay)
• An innovative system for adjusting audio effects parameters in virtual reality
• Redesigned in-world menu systems and environments, and an overhauled tools selection on the Vive wand (“Flower menu”), and hilt menu functionality
• Audio loop recording
• Tutorial levels, videos, and demonstration songs

The LyraVR Beta is available now from the Lyra VR Steam page for US$9.99. Please visit http://store.steampowered.com/app/572630 to find out more.

Quotes

“We see this as being like the VR version of GarageBand,” said LyraVR Co-Founder and CEO Dilun Ho. “Anyone who is into music and or VR should give this a go. The only way is to put on a headset and experience it.”

“This is a chance to totally rethink the way we make music. Early adopters will be joining us on the adventure,” said LyraVR designer and 3D artist Ian Stead.

“More than 25 years worth of experience—first with PC-based, MIDI-only sequencers, and then DAW software and soft synths as those became available—led to Lyra VR,” said programming and audio lead Jean Marais, who has a history of creating sequencers and synths for the Arduino platform.

For further information, including videos and team bios, please visit the Press Kit section at lyravr.com.

Please email hello@lyravr.com to arrange interviews with the LyraVR team.

LyraVR is a product of LyraVr, Inc., a US-registered, Taiwan-based company that is backed by the HTC Vive X accelerator program.

My friend Old Crow’s Crowminius synth is now live on Kickstarter. Based on the Minimoog model D, this thing is a monster!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1312542133/crowminius-desktop-analog-music-synthesizer